Pzena Investment Management LLC Buys New Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Pzena Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 803 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Amgen during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amgen in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. 76.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Redburn Partners dropped their target price on shares of Amgen from $200.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 price target on Amgen in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Amgen in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.04.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN opened at $318.89 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $171.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.53. Amgen Inc. has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $288.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $299.43.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 126.09%.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total value of $7,341,190.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares in the company, valued at $8,496,669.44. The trade was a 46.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock worth $20,644,335 in the last 90 days. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Amgen

Amgen Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and delivers human therapeutics worldwide. The company's principal products include Enbrel to treat plaque psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis; Otezla for the treatment of adult patients with plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and oral ulcers associated with Behçet's disease; Prolia to treat postmenopausal women with osteoporosis; XGEVA for skeletal-related events prevention; Repatha, which reduces the risks of myocardial infarction, stroke, and coronary revascularization; Nplate for the treatment of patients with immune thrombocytopenia; KYPROLIS to treat patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma; Aranesp to treat a lower-than-normal number of red blood cells and anemia; EVENITY for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal for men and women; Vectibix to treat patients with wild-type RAS metastatic colorectal cancer; BLINCYTO for the treatment of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia; TEPEZZA to treat thyroid eye disease; and KRYSTEXXA for the treatment of chronic refractory gout.